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Snoden, Thomas

by William S. Price, Jr., 1994

D. Ca. March 1714

Thomas Snoden, attorney and colonial official, first appears in the records of North Carolina in November 1693 as a minor. He had been apprenticed to one Thomas Hassold by his stepfather, Edmond Pirkins, and was to remain an apprentice until Pirkins returned for him or until he reached the age of twenty-one.

How Snoden rose from those humble beginnings to become a reasonably well-educated attorney is not known, but he began arguing cases before the General Court in July 1702 and practiced law until his death. A young man of obvious talents (court minutes surviving in his hand are the best written of the period), Snoden rose quickly in North Carolina government. From service as clerk of the General Court and Court of Chancery (as well as the General Assembly in 1703) during March 1703–July 1705, Snoden went on to become attorney general from July 1705 to 1708. In 1712 he represented Perquimans Precinct in the lower house and was chosen speaker of the Assembly by his peers.

Snoden was scheduled for appointment as a justice of the General Court when he died suddenly early in 1714. He left a wife Constance and son Thomas.